Thursday, November 15, 2012

Republicans Lose 2012 War on Women

by Gregory Allen

Republicans spent 2012 trying endlessly to defund Planned
Parenthood, an organization that provides health services like cancer
screenings to women in need. The GOP’s efforts were also focused on finding
ways to evade laws which prevented employers from denying insurance coverage
for birth control based on a belief that women’s reproductive rights are choice
only men could possibly understand.

In 2011 and early 2012, the Republican primary debates
appeared across the country the country as a traveling circus of candidates
featuring a homophobe (Rick Santorum) who believes states have the right to
outlaw birth control, an ironic misogynist (Michelle Bachmann) and cowboy (Rick
Perry) who hope to ban abortions in all circumstances including rape and
incest.

Surprisingly, Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate who
failed to remove himself from this train wreck of sexism, homophobia, and
intolerance toward minorities, lost the presidential election and the vote
among these mentioned interests which proved well sufficient to send Barack
Obama to a second term.
Republicans didn’t just lose the Presidential race. A “war
on women”, which many conservatives simply refuted as an imaginary slogan
invented by Barack Obama or the liberal media or perhaps even science to
undermine their campaign progress, grabbed the attention of voters across the
country.

Phrases like “medically unnecessary trans-vaginal
ultrasound” and “legitimate rape” unexpectedly caught the attention of more
than just the women living in Virginia and Indiana.

Republican hopeful Todd Akin, who made his opposition the
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act known because he disagreed with the notion that
governments can tell people what to do, and stated
women couldn’t get pregnant from “legitimate rape”, lost his campaign for the
U.S. Senate to Claire McCaskill (D-MO); a woman he had previously described as
not “ladylike.”

In an October debate with Rep. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.),
Republican candidate Richard Mourdock announced he was against abortions even
for rape because he felt, even as horrible as rape is, “that it is something
that God intended to happen.” Mourdock lost his election bid and became a punch
line to entertain Stephen Colbert’s audience, rather than the Senate’s.

Wisconsin state Rep. Roger Rivard (R-Rice Lake) shared his
father’s wisdom during his 2012 campaign for reelection, “'Just remember,
Roger, some girls, they rape so easy. It may be rape the next morning.'"
Kind of like how last night it was a campaign, and the next morning it’s a
disaster. He lost to democrat Stephen Smith.

Despite losing the Electoral College, the popular vote,
eight-of-nine swing states, the vote among women, voters under 30, and also among
minorities, as well as failing to capture or hold ground in the Senate or House
of Representatives; Republicans have only splintered into two groups as a
party. One half rationally feels they must modernize in the wake of their
defeat, the other faction feels victory slipped away because Governor Mitt
Romney wasn’t conservative enough.

Enough? Where do you go from “war on women”? Apocalypse? Conservatives
argued during the contraception debate last spring if woman really wanted
contraception, they could pay for it themselves without hurting religious
people’s feelings. Or . . . they could vote for a president who’d defend basic
rights.

While the election season was grueling and filled
disparaging comments, the results are optimistic. The Senate now has a record
number of female representatives, gay marriage was legally recognized in two
additional states, and basic healthcare rights seems temporarily safe for those
who depend on aid from their insurance.

And, come the 2016 elections, American citizens might not
have to sustain the political attrition dealt by Super Pac’s this year, and finally
be able to release complaints about only having a two party system – because
there might only be one left.

About UMass Dartmouth Center for Women, Gender & Sexuality

Since 1970 The UMass D Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality has been serving our community. We are here to offer education, information, friendship, support, conversation, entertainment, encouragement and insight!
We are located on the 2nd floor of Campus Center, between SAIL and the Torch office.
For more information
visit: www.umassd.edu/cwgs
Call: 508.910.4584

MVP Powder Puff Game

The following are the picture taken at the first ever UMass Dartmouth Mentors in Violence Prevention Powder Puff game! Thank you to all the women who participated, and all the men and women who came to cheer us on.